for every action

 there is a reaction. 

so that when the people of God draw near to him, the kingdom of darkness responds. 

this past week we announced our intention to draw near to God by entering into an extended season of prayer from january to july. we wrote on the blog about it; we spoke in church about it. we said that the kingdom of light breaks forth in wild and unpredictable ways during our weeks of 24-7 prayer; imagine, we said, what might happen if we prayed unrelentingly, if we stood on top of the city walls and refused to come down for 24 whole weeks, calling out to God on behalf of the people of this city. we even said over coffee the other morning, 

expect some push back from satan, because he works like that. 

so i am not surprised at all that:

danmike had such bad nightmares last night that he woke up shaking.

tammy had terrible nightmares also.

charla was up all night throwing up.

a candle caught a garland and several ornaments on fire and burned a windowsill so badly that the window cracked and some of the window frame melted. while i was in the room. and even though i smelled it and knew something was burning, i could not see the fire five feet away from me.

and an old friend who once recovered at the boiler room and is almost incapable of speaking truth, he really is, was delivered to our door by a stranger, from the hospital where he had been treated for a broken shoulder. he needed money for prescriptions and a place to stay, and we turned him away, which of course feels terrible and harsh. 

and our friends at 5th street hall, which rents us space to hold the love feast each week, our friends who are so generous with us and supportive of this ministry, called yesterday to report that kids who come to the love feast have been stealing toys and goods intended for charity from their storage room, and if anything else gets taken, they might not be able to rent to us anymore. so we have to make decision to actually not the let the little children come to Jesus, which of course feels worse than terrible.

 that's how the morning has been. 

and that's what, in case you've never experienced it, a monday-morning push back from satan looks like. 

which just means we're onto something here, and i think it's the playing field.

::jenn::

Comments

[april]

I really gotta say damn. Because I remember this type of stuff happened when 24/7 was beginning...now that its kicked up....damn...seriously. Im so mad right now. at the enemy.